iOS 6 Maps Getting Flak From Apple iPhone, iPad Users

Apple's new iOS 6 software update replaces Google Maps with Apple Maps as expected, but so far, unhappy users are panning the change in online forums. Meanwhile, Google Maps touts new features for Android users.

Since Apple's
new iOS 6 operating system became available for download Sept. 19, many
users have taken to the Internet to loudly vent their frustrations about the
loss of Google Maps in in the company's new mobile operating system for the
iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
The new Apple Maps app is being panned as being
wildly inaccurate, unimpressive and even just plain bad, based on dozens of
posts on Twitter in the last 24 hours.

Among the annoyed Tweets seen on
Sept. 20:

"iOS 6 Maps doesn't tell intentional lies, obviously, but they might as
well be -- what good is a map if you can't trust it?"

That's certainly not the feedback
Apple had in mind when it replaced Google Maps with its own product, but the
complaints of the vocal are everywhere.
One iPhone
4S user, Will Hains, was so upset by the less-than-stellar change that he
created a parody Twitter handle, "ios6maps," on Sept. 19 to vent his
displeasure with the map app changes. Twitter later
suspended the account without an explanation, according to Hains. He then created
another handle, "fake_ios6maps," which also was suspended. Both
accounts appeared to again be operational and visible several hours later after they apparently were
caught in a Twitter anti-spam service, he wrote in a followup tweet.
"As a huge, devoted Apple fan,
I was frustrated and annoyed by a move that went against their values which I
admire," said Hains in an online interview with eWEEK. "So I wanted to poke a little bit of
fun at what appears to be a rare stumble for Apple."
Hains said he works and lives in Japan,
"where I'm often frustrated with U.S.-centric technologies and services
that don't quite work right here. The thing is, normally Apple is really good
at that. Ask any Japanese person what it was like to use a cellphone in the U.S.
before iPhone. I didn't want to see the utter crippling of Maps on iPhone
outside the U.S. to be dismissed as a regional issue."
In some ways, including the
inclusion of vector graphics, better speed and improved typography, the Apple
Maps technology is better than Google Maps in earlier iOS versions, "but
the data is very patchy," said Hains. "Downtown San Francisco looks
amazing, elsewhere not good."